I want to love people because this innocence is all I know

I want to live like a child eyes closed, head leaned back, tongue reaching for the raindrops as they fall from the sky. I want to be the way I once was, silly and unafraid. I want to stare the unknown in the face and laugh like the way I would have when I was younger, never looking beyond the asphalt in front of me as I roller-bladed full speed, as I danced in the puddles, as I lay and made shapes of the clouds.⠀
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I want to live like a child. Laughter as my melody, sunshine and dirt in my hair. Bare feet on the pavement, grit under my fingernails as I touch and taste and feel everything this world has to offer me.⠀
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I want to close my eyes and jump into the ice cold lake. I want to swing ropes tied to trees and build castles in the sand. I want to run until my legs give out, make wishes on dandelions, carve my initials into the bark on the old pine, leaving my legacy for tomorrow.⠀
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I want to challenge the people around me, make them believe. I want to climb mountains and build forts, put a different color polish on every fingernail, wear striped sock with polka dot pants and pigtails in my hair.⠀
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I want to make mistakes and scrape my knees, ride the bike without a helmet, feel the wind in my hair. I don’t always want to wait for the answers to come; I want to ask the ‘why’ until I know. And then step forward, even when the outcome is uncertain.⠀
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I don’t want to be still, watching the world pass me by like cars on a highway with my nose pressed to the window glass. I don’t want to settle for the maturity of adulthood, for the dryness of a life without joy. I don’t want to wake up to exist, rather than enjoy.⠀